Snow continues to fall. I, the creature of habit, fetched my usual cup of coffee from Starbucks, despite the slippery roads. I returned safely. Perhaps I was a little lucky. No accident and here I am. One has to be somewhere, as long as one is alive. I’d rather be in Batavia, Illinois than…
Last night before turning in I watched a piece on the Magellan channel about volcanoes. Scenes of Mount St. Helens in Washington state, before and after the eruption on May 18, 1980 were featured. An eerie aspect in the piece was a radio report, from an observer on the mountain side describing in some…
Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. day, the national Federal holiday for marking the birthday of Dr. King. I was in high school, in the South when Dr. King was in the news. King was organizing, raising to consciousness the formal and informal practices by which we whites were relegating black citizens to second…
Today I upgraded the theme software for this blog. I paid a nominal amount for some added features. Upon activating the new theme, I discovered the image for my header vanished. The gods or demons within what-we-have-created, the world wide web, again manifested their presence. Magic or superstition is that feeling of “mystery” in…
Couldn’t access the blog this morning. I yelled, “help” to Hostgator support. They fixed the obstruction. I’m no code monkey. We often need help from others who have expertise that we will never have. Felt like yelling “help” on account of the top-of-mind subjects that I am compelled to write about. Like a child,…
I have been thinking about René Descartes. Descartes made a world changing discovery on November 10, 1619. Descartes was a 17th century mathematician, upper class, university educated and was well-traveled in Europe. Descartes, uneasy with his learning based upon Medieval scholasticism, couldn’t discount nagging doubt triggered by the discoveries of Galileo, by the rise…
The truths of humanism,the confidence in mankind and all the rest,still possess only the vigor of fictions,only a prosperity of shadows.The West was these truths;it is no more than these fictions, these shadows.as helpless as they,it has not been given to the West to verify them. It drags them along, exposes them,but no longer…
Perhaps you remember April 30, 1975, when NVA tanks rolled through the gates of the Presidential palace in Saigon? I was twenty six years old then. I still carry my draft card from that era in my wallet. That offensive put an end to our attempt to make Vietnam a client state, a colony…
We return home from Minnesota today. Our visit with family was a satisfying relief from the restriction on travel which has prevented contact and face to face conversation for the past year and a half. It is a delight to witness children playing and growing, maturing in interests, and capabilities. I was intellectually stimulated…
Today is the day after July the 4th, Independence Day. I joined family members to view a parade spectacle. Many community groups in town published their presence by a float, a marching band, or by some unusual vehicle, (cement mixer, etc.) The parade was pure entertainment. Free candy for the children at the curb….
